SUNRISE, Fla. _ The New York Rangers will return from their winter refuge in the Sunshine State with two losses, but at least they were competitive in Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center.
They were far from it in Thursday's 9-3 shellacking at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
For the second straight game, the Blueshirts (8-8-2) were without rookie Kaapo Kakko, who is battling the flu. Coupled with the extended absence of Mika Zibanejad (upper body), they were forced to rely on top offensive players to shoulder a heavier load than usual.
For the most part, they delivered. Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to 11 straight games with a goal and an assist, which was matched by a goal and an assist from line mate Ryan Strome. Tony DeAngelo, who is tied for third on the team in total points behind Panarin and Strome, had the third goal.
The issue for the Rangers was stopping the potent attack of the Panthers (10-5-5).
They struck with goals on both of the Rangers' first-period penalties _ the first from on a one-timer from Keith Yandle to Mike Hoffman, and the second on a one-timer from Jonathan Huberdeau to Evgeni Dadonov.
Following each Florida power-play goal, the Rangers responded with the tying goal within two minutes. They briefly took a 3-2 lead on DeAngelo's goal in the second period, but Brett Connolly tied it about two minutes later and Dadonov later gave the Panthers the lead with his second goal of the game.
